Rare Sheep In Lake District

Huge flock of rare sheep arrive in Lake District

A rare breed of sheep (Ovis aries) have been spotted in a Lake District garden centre. A huge flock of the sheep arrived a few weeks ago and have taken over Hayes Garden World. Have ewe seen them? They are a mixture of rams, ewes and lambs. At the moment they are basking in the Lake District sunshine in the nursery; fortunately they seem to be well fed as they are not eating any of the plants. The Border Collie in charge seems to be having trouble keeping them contained as they are escaping all over the nursery. He seems to prefer posing for photographs!

Once you get them home they are relatively easy to keep in the garden. They tend to stay together as a flock. You don’t need a sheepdog or any specialist shepherding skills. They are cheap to feed, don’t need worming, hooves trimmed, clipping or dipping. As they are from the Lakes they are used to everything the weather can throw at them so they are able to stay out all winter.

They won’t start breeding when your back is turned, so there is no danger of you ending up with a garden full! As they are tame you can name them with no likelihood of them ending up in the freezer. Unfortunately they don’t come to you when called. Any help in reducing their numbers would be appreciated.

We were wrong about them not breeding!! There are a huge number of lambs arriving mid April along with their mothers. Anyone with a sheep dog has been put on standby in case they are needed to put them on the stands, although I think we are lacking an experienced shepherd, but I'm sure Patrick will have them in their place in no time at all!

We often have a 'Lambing Special' on so keep checking in store, they are escaping up the fells really quickly so if you want one or several you need to pay us a visit fairly soon.

Angela Slater

Daughter of a farmer and market gardener so have always had a connection with the outdoors, whether it was keeping animals or producing fruit, vegetables and cut flowers. Along with my work at Hayes Garden World I also have a smallholding, mainly breeding rare breed pigs. I gained an HND and BSc in Conservation and Environmental Land Management, as a result I am an ardent environmentalist and have a keen interest in environmentally friendly gardening. In my time at Hayes I worked for several years in the Outdoor Plant and Houseplant areas